SPOILER THREAD OF THE YEAR- S2 Finale News and Speculation

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

So the HUB is planning a month long marketing blitz across the internet, social media, and television, leading up to the April 21st season finale for My Little Pony. The mods approved this thread for people to speculate, and talk about all the upcoming games and things HUB and Hasbro are planing.

SO GO NO FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SOME SPOILERS

Episodes: - Both will air back to back on April 21
Episode 25 - A Canterlot Wedding Part 1
Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, is marrying Princess Celestia's niece, Cadence.

Episode 26 - A Canterlot Wedding Part 2
Twilight discovers a dark secret about Cadence right before the wedding.



The Marketing:

LOS ANGELES – The Hub TV network, a television network for kids and their families, will celebrate the wedding event of the year with a very special two-episode presentation of the animated hit series “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic,” Saturday, April 21 (1-2 p.m. ET) a series produced by Hasbro Studios. Two half-hour, back-to-back episodes will culminate with a spectacular wedding in the beloved series that has become a pop culture phenomenon, with a passionate and broad fan following.

As part of the celebration of the episode, TV actress/author, wedding aficionado -- and mom -- Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills 90210,” “Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings”) will be featured in The Hub’s interstitial programming in addition to hosting a celebrity “bridle” shower event.

http://youtu.be/LcS7OX4LTu4

“My Little Pony Friendship is Magic,” set in the magical land of Equestria, a kingdom populated by colorful ponies, follows the studious young unicorn Twilight Sparkle and her five pony friends as they teach one another about the most powerful magic of all, the magic of friendship! In the two-part episode “A Canterlot Wedding,” the kingdom is in a frenzy preparing for the wedding of Princess Celestia’s niece, Princess Cadance, to Twilight Sparkle’s brother, Shining Armor. However, Twilight Sparkle discovers a dark secret about the bride that could ruin her brother’s “happily ever after.”

To capitalize on the growing excitement that is swirling around what legions of “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” fans are calling “the wedding of the year,” The Hub will launch a robust marketing and publicity effort to reach the audiences of all ages who are captivated by “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.” The series, produced primarily for children, has become a sensation across generations.

The special wedding-themed programming event will be supported with both traditional and non-traditional off-channel media, designed to drive tune-in as well as viewer engagement with exclusive digital content available at an all-new mini-site, Hubword.com/royalwedding. Launching on April 2, the mini-site will feature six all-new, interactive, wedding-themed games based on each of the show’s beloved primary characters as well as a downloadable "viewing party pack" that includes printable party invitations, wedding hats, coloring pages and stickers.

Additionally, The Hub’s Facebook and Twitter (@HubTVNetwork) platforms will provide sneak peeks of the royal wedding episode and extend the viewing experience with additional activities to engage the series’ growing fan base.

Latest News

3.28
New promo clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... vvUAbWjlms
New billboard ad for LA.


4.1
Wedding Page Opens

http://royalwedding.hubworld.com/index.html

Some flash games (with more to come), also has a downloadable party pack.

4.9
New preview clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 1qztVkn590

4.13
Entertainment Weekly reviews episode and previews New York Times Wedding announcement.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/04/13/my-li ... opWatch%29

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

Man, sooooo excited for possible pony kissing!

[Stuff]

Oh, maaan! We're all watching this together, right? Who's bringing the chips and the dip?

(wow, I'm excited for a wedding involving colorful ponies... would I have said that 10 months ago?)

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

Twilight learns that Cadence isn't a natural alicorn.....

[Herr Generalfabulous]

Man, I LOVE Shining Armor's color scheme. It's so pretty!

Also, here's hoping for a Luna cameo somewhere- even if she doesn't appear, I hope her absence is at least explained.

[FightingDreamerBrony For Life]

My prior explanation for Luna's possible absence: she be fucking asleep. "FOALS! Do not wake me, your Princess of the Night, at such an inconvenient hour! And for such a foolishly garish ceremony! I shall be in my chambers."

[RagnarThe fact that there is quite definitely nothing at all out there, yet it is visiting anyway, is of some distress to those who care about such things.]

I hope her absence is at least explained.

"Nah, I'm not going. Sorry, but for some reason it's kind of weird when ponies kiss. Have you ever noticed? I wonder why that is."



Not that I'm complaining. We like to make a fuss, but this isn't actually a big deal.

[Opposing FarceDon't you smile at my faceSpit on my backDo you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?]

Luna's not gonna show because she's too smart to let herself get wrapped up in this nonsense. She knows the wedding's gonna turn into a giant clusterfuck, and she wants no part of it.

Also, man, the marketing they're doing for this thing is crazy. I mean, seriously, what?

[ScientificPonyIt's a beautiful day]

I REALLY hope we get some good lore on alicorns, I was super bummed we didn't get a Celestia episode yet.
This also has me hopeful that Season 3 will not be the end of the show, since they are REALLY making a big deal out of this. I don't see a "Pound Puppies Secret Butt Fun Extravaganza" planned anywhere.

[stonecutterOne-trick Pony]

Twilight learns that Cadence isn't a natural alicorn.....

...or a mare!

[londonarbuckleAND SOMEDAY YOU WILL BUCK LIKE I BUCK.]

I really like that they're doing all this publicity crap for the wedding, as silly as it all sounds. It's further proof The Hub knows this is a show worth getting behind.

[Lazy]

I don't even have anything to say besides this is gonna be good.

[Some Jerkaaaaaagh ur posting]

Fuck YOU British royals! Nerds care more about ponies than your bullshit wedding!

I'm actually absolutely psyched for this. C'mon gigantic mess! Now I need to make sure I can watch live with this crew. Going to be so good!

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

I'm going to wear my top hat during the airing of this episode.

[Wayoshi]

Wow, this is really going to turn into a big thing. It was already big enough for us with double the length at once...

Obviously this episode hinges on the evil clones, which could get to Discord pt. 2 levels of hilarity. The background plot can be as blah as they want (and it might very well be, this might be the staff :ponydrug: -ing the episode without affecting the main plot, although I'd like to see Twilight and Shining Armor have meaningful contact as well).

[DavyinatogaEw, will you please just stop posting already so I can stop having to look at it?]

So not only did Studio B get Q to play as Pony-version Q, but they're likely to have gotten Tori Spelling to play as Pony-version Tori Spelling.

[Headless Horse]

So wait, where'd that press release material come from? Is there a link?

Is "Cadance" the official spelling, then?

(Or is it just a MISS SPELLING ) (I suck)

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

So wait, where'd that press release material come from? Is there a link?

Is "Cadance" the official spelling, then?

(Or is it just a MISS SPELLING ) (I suck)

it's coming up as Cadence on the episode synopsis.

[Stuff]

But why are her eyes so huge? It's creepy.

She's an alien, I bet.

[Wayoshi]

So wait, where'd that press release material come from? Is there a link?

Seems to be direct HUB to EqD.

[Blarghalt]

The dark secret: even though she's absolute ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia still isn't qualified to marry anyone due to legal loopholery.

There are some things even magic can't fix.

[Opposing FarceDon't you smile at my faceSpit on my backDo you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?]

The dark secret: even though she's absolute ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia still isn't qualified to marry anyone due to legal loopholery.

There are some things even magic can't fix.

As it turns out, the episodes are actually based around the origins of pony Anglicanism.

[kefkafloyd]

Seems to be direct HUB to EqD.

Well, it's direct to a lot of people. They sent that press release, assumedly, to anyone subscribed to the hub's press service.

[Xavier GenisiLike I said, princesses are pretty, Jack. And I am very in touch with my inner princess.]

The Dark Secret: Princess Cadence marries Shining Armor just so she can graduate from being the kind Princess archtype to the evil Queen archtype.

That, or she's from some kind of mirror dimension and it's revealed when her makeup is messed up, revealing the goatee that indicates that she is evil.

I have no idea, I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

Well, it's direct to a lot of people. They sent that press release, assumedly, to anyone subscribed to the hub's press service.

Looked all over HUBS site for it. With ponygoons new news site, I didn't want to link to competition.

[Frosthawkwhat is this. what is this SHIT]

So does Cadence being Celestia's niece make Luna Cadence's mom? Tell me where I'm wrong here

It's either that or there are other royal siblings we don't know about.

[Blarghalt]

Cadence is the daughter of the sister Celestia doesn't talk about.

Princess Drinky Dink.

[Some Jerkaaaaaagh ur posting]

So does Cadence being Celestia's niece make Luna Cadence's mom? Tell me where I'm wrong here

It's either that or there are other royal siblings we don't know about.

Royal family trees loop back into themselves. The monarchs of the UK and Germany (or the Austro-hungarian empire) were like direct cousins.

HELLO FAN FIC WRITERS, HERE'S A CREEPY FUCKING PLOT YOU TWISTED FUCKS WILL RUN WITH!

[VaultAggie"Shawty, you the best"]

This finale is going to be ridiculous. So excited!

I hope Cadence's secret is actually something interesting that we're not expecting.

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

...or a mare!

Austin Power Pony bursts in "It's a MAN, man!"

[Pocketis she just gonna go booty booty]

Looking at that earlier preview with the pony clones, I figure it'll turn out that Cadance is either (A) actually her evil twin, or (B) the villain who's responsible for creating the clones. I'm personally hoping for B, because I'm still sore about the extra bonus alicorn thing and don't want her to be a good guy, but reasonably I know it'll be A instead.

[WylieCIDER CIDER CIDER]

Looking at that earlier preview with the pony clones, I figure it'll turn out that Cadance is either (A) actually her evil twin, or (B) the villain who's responsible for creating the clones. I'm personally hoping for B, because I'm still sore about the extra bonus alicorn thing and don't want her to be a good guy, but reasonably I know it'll be A instead.

Why can't it be both? Some villain uses DA MAGICS to become Cadence's double, and as a bonus (since duplicating things is her shtick, apparently) she makes copies of the Six to distract everyone.

On a different topic, I kind of hope that every set of the Six that exists (aren't there up to 4 Dashes shown at once?) believes in their hearts that -they- are the real ones. None of them are inherently evil, they just think the other copies are obviously evil clones because -they're- the real ones. ("You are not scientifically possible!") I don't know how you'd be able to pull that off, but it'd be a neat twist on the whole "evil twin" thing.

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

One thing I noticed in the ad for the special was the brandishing of spears by a troop of guards, which isn't quite as cartoony fun as a Pinky-turned Twilight gatling.
The scenes with charging waves of the main six are interspersed throughout as well.
I'd wonder if those two things ever approach each other.
My thinking is no. We know what happens to cavalry charges into entrenched polearms; this isn't Civilization 3 and this isn't a hoplite versus M1A1 match-up. (lousy random rolls )

Has anyone been able to place Cadence's voice?

edit: I'll be honest that in the very short audio snippet that I thought it could have been Spelling.

[In West FillydelphiaSCHWEIIIN]

She is, in fact, Star Swirl the Bearded

DUN DUN DUUUUN

[Pony Factory Factorysugoi]

This whole royal wedding pastiche build-up is one of the most Goddamn ridiculous things I have ever seen come out of a TV show. I am not kidding. Yet I still expect this team to pull it off.

I wonder if we'll get more time shenanigans? All the duplicate ponies are the real ponies in different stages of a multiple-wound open-ended time loop. Say, Twilight 2 is Twilight on her first time around the loop, then she goes around again and becomes Twilight 3, then around again and becomes Twilight 4, all approaching the same event with different understandings but in a temporally inevitable way. Then after the last loop, a Twilight leaves the system and goes about her life in normal linear time again. The formerly first Twilight becomes the second, the second becomes the third, and the fourth falls off the cliff.

Incidentally, this type of time shenanigan was handled exceptionally in a Stanislaw Lem short story, The Seventh Voyage (i.e. of Ijon Tichy).

Or maybe some other way that the only reason the ponies are fighting themselves is because of assumptions and misunderstandings, and they're all the "good" ones waiting for the big villain reveal to realize that they're not each others' enemies.

[Headless Horse]

I have to say I did not see this marketing blitz thing coming. This is really throwing me for a loop.

If Hasbro/Hub actually wrote that press release, it's pretty remarkable in that they're now officially acknowledging the broad demographic appeal as part of their publicity strategy. "Legions of fans". "The series, produced primarily for children, has become a sensation across generations." Is this the first output of that new marketing director position they were hiring for a few months back, the one that looked like they were specifically hiring someone who knew how to market to fandom-style audiences?

One way or another, a stunt like centering a whole day of programming around a two-part season-ender, complete with star-studded live-action "hosting" shows and a dedicated mini-site—it's like the kind of stuff that the owners of Wayne's World and Beavis & Butt-head did with them when they were at their peak of cultural saturation. Broke them out of their box and spread them across their whole portfolio to make them as broadly known as possible.

In both those cases ("Wayne's World SNL Music A-Go-Go", B&BH "hosting" the New Year's parade one year) it was timed badly, hitting the falling edge of those properties' life cycles. But this feels like Hasbro has realized they have something on their hands that could be a bigger powderkeg than they have given it credit for.

What I'm saying is, it doesn't feel like the kind of thing they'd be doing if they were planning to let the series reach syndication mass halfway through S3 and then kill it. This isn't a "running out the clock" kind of maneuver. This feels like Hub is trying to make a giant splash, like they're putting their weight behind the show for the long haul and recognizing it as their flagship product with enough legs as to be self-sustaining. Maybe it's a Hail Mary; maybe they think it's their "last best hope" at establishing themselves. But it also feels oddly confident, like they know something we don't.

It's pretty crazy regardless. I can't wait to see what the hell.

[MordjaLYRA is the cool pony who likes to hang out. You can find most of the cool ponies with her. LYRA can just chill and do whatever and totally relax. "Take it easy" is the LYRA motto, for example, that's how laid back she is.]

Finally, an in-universe explanation for repeated crowd shots.

What I'm saying is, it doesn't feel like the kind of thing they'd be doing if they were planning to let the series reach syndication mass halfway through S3 and then kill it. This isn't a "running out the clock" kind of maneuver. This feels like Hub is trying to make a giant splash, like they're putting their weight behind the show for the long haul and recognizing it as their flagship product with enough legs as to be self-sustaining. Maybe it's a Hail Mary; maybe they think it's their "last best hope" at establishing themselves. But it also feels oddly confident, like they know something we don't.

At this point, I sincerely doubt MLP will end after half a 3rd season. We already know it's the Hub's most watched show, the toys have been pulling in sales, it's been getting top billing in their broadcast and web adverts and now there's this...whole thing.

Speaking of, is Tori Spelling a "good" cameo or what? All I know is that she's kinda famous, makes weddings and is a MOM, which the papers won't shut up about for some reason.

[Lazy]

I didn't know anything about Tori so I searched her name and now I'm just kinda more confused about why she's doing this.
I guess it's having a just famous person for having a famous person's sake. Though I don't really know who'll both be following things that she does enough to learn about this without prior knowledge of MLP because of her and then also actually end up watching it.

[Chronos30Just fyi, you're out of Pixy Stix]

I guess it's cause she did coverage of the royal wedding. Also, look up her dad, Aaron Spelling. She's pretty much TV royalty herself.

[kefkafloyd]

Maybe Tori liked ponies when she was a kid, maybe her kids like them too.